The 49th Rocket City Marathon will be remembered for nippy temperatures, adding another chapter to the event’s storied history in the Southeast.
The race began in 1977 as the Joe Steele Rocket City Marathon, sponsored for five years by the local realtor. The marathon was solo, with no 10K, 5k or half along with it. The Huntsville Half Marathon was, and still is, a separate event and like the RCM is one of the oldest continuous athletic events in the city.
Runners in that inaugural event began at at Monte Sano Elementary School on Monte Sano. Whooooeeee! The route brought them off the mountain and into downtown, eventually finishing at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. One constant over 49 years? It’s held on the second weekend in December.
Harold Tinsley, a Huntsville Track Club founding member, compiled a fantastic “History of Huntsville Track Club Races” updated through 2017. Here is his report, lightly edited, about the race and its background through 2017.
How the RCM Started
Race Directors: Harold and Louise Tinsley 1977-96, Malcolm Gillis 1997-2004, Suzanne and Dink Taylor 2005-17.
This race began as the Joe Steele Rocket City Marathon and started at the school on Monte Sano. It finished at UAH after a loop through Research Park and by the Space and Rocket Center (no I- 565 interstate back then). It moved in 1979 to Grissom High School (original, on Bailey Cove Road) for the start/finish. Several different courses were run from that location over the years. The marathon start/finish moved to the Hilton Hotel downtown in 1991. (The Hilton closed in 2014 as a Holiday Inn).
In 2014 the course changed to an all-downtown course, using the Von Braun Center for the start/finish. It became the Humana Rocket City Marathon in 1982, the WZYP Rocket City Marathon in 1986 and the Huntsville Times Rocket City Marathon in 1999. It became the Rocket City Marathon in 2004 and went without a title sponsor until 2014 when Nike became the title sponsor.
Storied History
Over the years, this race has produced many national records (20). These included the American Masters Record of 2:17:01 set in 1990 by Kenneth Judson from Pittsburgh and the World Junior Record of 2:15:28 set in 1983 by Paul Gompers from Massachusetts.
It was the first marathon to be held in Alabama and the first certified course of any distance in Alabama. It was the first race to be scored by computer at the finish line that we know of other than by large IBM and Univac computers located in a building off site in some large city races. That was the 1979 race, and bar codes were read starting in 1980. How this was done was presented at the Road Race Management Race Directors Meeting in Washington, DC. A few years later it was the first race to use a computer to aid the finish line announcer. This technique was published in a national publication and the race directors meeting, with no rebuttal of being first.
Many other race techniques were developed for this race. The race features were twice presented at the Road Race Management Race Directors Meeting. When The Huntsville Times was the marathon sponsor, it provided the funding in 2000-01 for The Huntsville Times Kids Rocket City Marathon. This event was administered by marathon director Malcolm Gillis and was thus not a separate event on the HTC Race Calendar.
And, One More Thing
Steve Bolt, originally of Huntsville and Grissom High, won the inaugural Rocket City Marathon. He wasn’t even a marathon runner, but was asked to run to lend some “big name” heft to the new event.
Among his numerous accolades are being the first American to run a sub-4 mile and 2:15 marathon. He had an incredible high school, collegiate and post-collegiate career. Bolt is a member of the the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
You can learn more about Bolt and the first Rocket City Marathon here in this 2014 race preview by my old Huntsville Times colleague and pal, Mark McCarter. It’s worth the time to read.
— Alan Clemons
